La Salle edges past Villanova in OT

PHILADELPHIA — This was it for La Salle’s Ramon Galloway, his last chance to beat Villanova.

Actually, it was his only opportunity to knock off the Wildcats. He missed last year’s loss to Villanova with a concussion and had to watch the game from his room on a laptop.

“I really wanted to beat them,” Galloway said. “If there was one team I wanted to beat, it was them.”

Galloway received his wish as the Explorers and Wildcats kicked off the Big 5 season in style Sunday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena.

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The 6-3 senior guard led all scorers with 26 points as La Salle rallied for a 77-74 victory in overtime to snap a 10-game losing streak to the Wildcats.

Galloway threw in five steals, four assists and four rebounds to give the Explorers (3-1) their first triumph over the Wildcats since a 61-58 victory at the Pavilion Nov. 27, 2001.

“It’ the greatest feeling ever, especially being from Philly,” Galloway said. “It was just the greatest win ever to me and my team.”

There were a lot of smiles in the La Salle locker room, none bigger than the one on the face of guard Tyreek Duren. After struggling to find his offensive rhythm in the first three games, the junior guard collected 23 points and five assists, and scored the two most important baskets of the game. Duren drilled a three-pointer with six seconds left in regulation to tie it and then dropped in a layup off a backdoor cut in overtime to give La Salle the lead for good with 18.2 seconds remaining in overtime.

“I thought I was going to miss it,” Duren said of his winning basket. “That’s how wide open I was.”

No, this time the basketball gods were on La Salle’s side. The Explorers won even though they trailed by eight points early in the second half, three with less than 10 seconds to go in regulation and had to overcome a pair of four-point deficits in overtime.

La Salle did all that with its leading scorer, Jerrell Wright, sitting on the bench. The 6-8 sophomore forward was in foul trouble much of the game and fouled out with 4:28 to play in regulation.

“I thought our guys showed tremendous resilience,” La Salle coach John Giannini said. “We had some rough spots. I thought Jerrell getting into foul trouble hurt us. They’re so strong. They hurt us on the offensive glass. They got to the line a lot. We had a lot to overcome. I’m real proud of our guys.”

If every City Series game is as entertaining as the Big 5 opener, Philly fans are in for a treat.

“It was a great game,” Galloway said. “They fought hard. We just wanted it more.”

As much as La Salle wanted to end its slide against the Wildcats, it looked like Villanova’s winning ways over the Explorers would continue. With senior center Mouphtaou Yarou (20 points, seven rebounds) and redshirt sophomore forward JayVaughn Pinkston (19 points, seven boards, four assists), Villanova led 39-31 early in the second half and had a six-point advantage (57-51) with 7:11 to play in regulation.

There was only one problem, and it turned out to be a huge issue in the end. The Wildcats did not take care of the basketball. Villanova turned the ball over 18 times, 12 of those by the three guards who handle the ball most. Freshman point guard Ryan Arcidiacono turned it over six times, while Darrun Hilliard and Tony Chennault coughed it up three times apiece.

The Explorers converted those 18 turnovers into 29 points, and that would eventually prove deadly for the Wildcats.

“I thought their guards did a great job of pressure our guards,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “We really struggled to get into our offense, especially late in the game and in overtime.”

Villanova mustered enough offense to take a 67-64 lead when Arcidiacono hit the back end of a two-shot foul with 25.3 seconds left. But, with time winding down, Duren squared up from well beyond the NBA three-point line and sent the game into overtime.

“I was actually looking to pass it, but then I looked at the clock and I just decided to shoot it,” Duren said. “I knew we needed a three so I just shot it.”

Duren came up big in overtime, too, as the Explorers erased a 72-68 and 74-70 deficit. Duren hit a jumper to cut Villanova’s lead to 72-70, fed Rohan Brown for a layup to get the Explorers within 74-73 and then picked up a bad pass by Arcidiacono that bounced off Yarou.

After a timeout, Duren made a textbook backdoor cut to free himself of Chennault, his former high school teammate. Teammate D.J. Peterson drew the defense to him and then hit Duren with a perfect pass for an uncontested layup that gave the Explorers a 75-74 lead with 18.2 seconds to play.

“That’s exactly how we drew it up,” Duren said. “I didn’t think I was going to be that wide open because the help defense was there the whole game. I was surprised.”

Not as shocked as Jay Wright.

“Give them credit for their execution,” Jay Wright said, “and give us poor marks for our execution. We have to get better.”

That wasn’t going to happen on this day. Center Steve Zack (eight points, 14 rebounds) hit two free throws to give La Salle a 77-74 advantage. The celebration, which was 11 years in the making, started after Pinkston’s final attempt was off the mark.